


This time around

by Hangelove



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, LeviHan Eggschange, Strangers to Friends, heartaches, levihan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28856391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hangelove/pseuds/Hangelove
Summary: This time around things will go chiller
Relationships: Levi & Hange Zoë, Levi/Hange Zoë
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	This time around

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DefiantDame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefiantDame/gifts).



> Dear Queen @fangirldefiantdame
> 
> Dude, my bae, my friend. I am such a sore loser. I am so sorry for the long wait. Here is the first chapter of your fanfiction. Please please please enjoy. The fanart is in the works :D

Hange sat there thinking about all the times they spent together in the past year, dinner every few days. They do have home cooked lunches sometimes because she started her evening shift at 3.00 pm. There was enough time to bond, but there are also plenty of people out there who meet two months out of a year, and still are more successful than them in the relationship arena. 

Both of their careers met small successes at the same time. He was busy with his newly opened bag boutique and she with her new permanent job as a news producer. After that he was often out of the country meeting bespoke handbag makers, and she was often out of the house meeting vvips and covering events. 

Around them, their friends broke up all the time so they agreed from the start that should one of them lose interest with the other, they should talk about it. But, in reality she was not prepared when the actual thing happened. It was easier to mentally say, "Let's end this because I have someone in my heart now," than actually hearing and experiencing it.

One night after dinner, they had just arrived at her house and he kissed her goodbye. He was about to return to his car when he turned back to tell her that he had something to say.

He made sure that she was sitting down first, and Hange was ready because he looked really nervous. "I have someone else now, and I am so very sorry," he told her all while looking guiltily. 

Her heart was broken. She admitted that she had neglected him the rare moments he was in town and had a free night, but she couldn't be there as she was stuck at the news studio handling political leaders and stuff.

"I don't understand how this happened..”   
  
“Me too… I am so sorry, but… I hope you will forgive me.”

“I am sorry if I am not enough for you," came Hange's automatic response.

"It's not your fault. It's me who can't handle being in this relationship anymore. I have been in love with her for awhile now," he said. 

He paused and began crying. "I love you, and care for you, but only as a friend now. I am sorry I broke your heart."

Hange looked out of the window of her apartment, she was thankful that they did not share an apartment, otherwise it would have been tougher.

"I’m hurt... but I understand," she replied.    
  
The signs had always been there, they were caring towards each other but it felt more like out of habit. He was no longer romantically in love with her and there is nothing Hange can do about it. 

She did not know how long this sadness will be but she knew work will make her thoughts occupied and things will be bad for her emotions, but she hoped that she will bee ok. At least he did not lie and sneak around behind her back.

In the next few days, Hange realised that he never came back to take his stuff. She did not bother looking for his stuff anyway. Apparently he started a habit of never leaving anything in her apartment for the past month.    
  
Hange cried for the love she lost, it was hard but she knew it was all in the past. The relationship left a deep mark in her since it was her first and he was her crush. She did not know how long until she could completely stop crying. 

  
  


* * *

_ Eleven months later _

Hange is now stationed in Trost as her company had set up an online news station there and they sent her to lead a local reporting team. Her schedule is now much more relaxed and most days she was able to come home by dinner. She had an army of trusted junior producers to assist her now.

She was settling well but she was still haunted by her past relationship sometimes. Hange had flings now and then but nothing serious. Whenever she feels overwhelmed and alone she goes for a walk in the park, and did date nights with Nanaba. Nanaba was a part time newsreader who happened to be her former schoolmate.    
  
Tonight Hange was in need of a friend but Nanaba was occupied with work. So Hange found herself alone at the park trying to make sense of her emotions. There were plenty of joggers despite it being windy and the sky darkening. She wondered if crying under the rain would be a good idea right now. Maybe the rain will wash away the sadness? 

She found a bench and sat down, took out her phone and clicked on an email. This afternoon her ex-boyfriend sent his wedding invitation, it had an attachment of him and his fiancee pre wedding pictures. They looked happy and she was beautiful.    
  
Her heart squeezed again, it hurts less than before but it hurts. She sobbed silently at first, but then was full on crying. Joggers passing by started looking at her.

"Mam are you ok?" A boy asked.   
  
Hange wiped her snot and nodded. "I am ok, just a bad day.”

The boy gave her a thumbs up and hurried up to his worried looking parents who were already up ahead.

She continued weeping less noisier this time. Then someone came and handed her a towel, "This is a clean towel, I have a spare." 

Hange looked up in between sniffles. A guy in a shirt and shorts looking worriedly at her. She smiled and took the towel. She hoped they wouldn't meet ever again.    
  
"Thanks, have a nice day.”   
  
He jogged past her. Hange looked at the email again and apparently it was hard to let go even after months. Soon, she was sniffling again. 

The towel guy came back and said, "Hey it's still early and the cafes are open.”   
  
Hange quickly wiped her wet cheeks, and looked at him nervously.   
  
“I am annoyed that you are crying in public instead of with a friend somewhere safe…”   
  
He looked up at the sky and said, “not under a sky which is about to cry along with you. Let's go to the nearby cafe.”   
  
Hange looked at him.   
  
He looked at her, “Please."

They didn't talk much but she got his name, his name was Levi. He owned a tea reseller company and had an office in town. Hange was smittened since he was so nice, but also praying hard that they won’t meet again, ever.    
  
She hoped that Trost was big enough for the two of them to not meet again.

  
  


* * *

"Hange you have got to help me, I realized that I know nothing and this new project is taking over my life. But I don't want this charity to go to someone else's hands since he entrusted it to me, what am I going to do?" Nanaba sighed and plopped onto a chair. 

Hange looked at Mike, Nanaba's boyfriend and nodded. "Me and Mike can do this, we are good at our work and though we have no idea what this is about, I think we can adapt, right Mike?"

Mike nodded and said to his one true love, "Nana, I dedicate my heart to you, we got this." Mike winked at Nanaba and pulled them into a group hug.

Last month, Keith Shadis, a businessman and philanthropist, also Nanaba's late neighbour, had named Nanaba, a mere neighbour as far as they know, to manage the charity body. They checked that he was married once but childless, and had left all of his money to charity. His friends had pledged to continue supporting his charities but they wanted a manager whom Shadis trusted. Shadis had often told them about Nanaba and had told them about naming her his charity body heir, his friends mutually agreed.

When Nanaba met them, they told her that since Nanaba was a news reader she became a trusted face and brand amongst the town's older folks. Nanaba did not even realize that old people loved her, and trusted her this much. And she was not that close to Shadis but she decided to give the thing a try since it was a good cause.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The day came when they needed to sort out the paperworks soon after Nanaba was named legal owner of the charity body. They needed to do a lot of reading and document sorting. Shadis had kept manual records in paper files but Nanaba wanted it to be on digital records. She had wanted to hire people to help with the sorting, but Mike convinced her that they should check the documents themselves in the initial stage.

The next weekend, Hange suddenly found herself, Mike and Nana with the guy from the park in Nanaba’s house sorting through boxes of documents.

Hange screamoooed in her head, “The freaking guy from the park!!!”

Mike introduced Levi to them, and shared that Levi volunteered himself when he heard Nanaba rambling about her headache dealing with the documents. They were taking their own sweet time checking the documents.    
  
Along the way, Hange took glimpses at Levi over the mountains of paperwork. He obviously came here after work. Levi was wearing a long sleeved pale blue shirt and was still in a loosened tie. 

Nanaba sighed and Hange quickly looked at her.   
  
Nanaba grumbled, "Levi, please do freshen up. I have extra shirts from some event, and there are extra towels at the back.”

Levi looked at Nanaba and the boxes of documents, worry began to form on his face.    
  
Hange quickly interrupted, "Don't worry these will still be here until our next birthday, take care of yourself first."

Levi frowned a little but finally loosened a bit. "Okay, I'll take 5."

Nanaba smiled and patted Levi on the back. As Levi was on his way to the guest room where Nanaba had pointed out he walked past Mike. Mike slapped his shoulder hard. "Thanks for joining in man, we do indeed need all the extra hands we have."

"Glad to be of help," Levi said as he rubbed his sore shoulder. Mike laughed and continued checking the boxes.

  
  


* * *

Levi grabbed for his mobile phone and looked at the time, it was 8.05 am. He didn’t hear any of his seven alarms and now missed his 7 am jog. Sitting up he felt his throat parched from dehydration, he shook his head and could feel a little light headed and something did not feel right. Waking up with a headache would make you feel like the day was over even when it was just about to start. 

“Babe, are you ok?”

Levi looked to his side. A familiar blonde haired girl laid next to him, she eyed him for a bit before continuing to look back at her phone.

“Rico?” Levi asked. He was a little confused since Rico now lived next door.

She saw his eyebrows knit and shuffled up to him. “What’s wrong? You were so sure about me staying here last night?” Rico asked, feeling perplexed.

“No, not that. I…”.

Well, he was speechless because he could not remember how they ended up in bed together. He looked at Rico, his childhood friend.    
  
Rico sighed. “Well I should have guessed that you won’t remember anything anyway. You told me to stay here before you finally slept last night. You were so sick and Nanaba wanted to stay but Mike said you’d be ok and you said that I could stay or something like that.”    
  
Rico placed the back of her hand on Levi’s forehead and looked at a spot on the far wall, “You feel normal, but as a safety measure I think you better get yourself to the clinic today."

Rico got up and approached a nearby chair. She grabbed a pastel pink jacket draped over it and pushed her hands into the sleeves and started buttoning up. 

“I better freshen up, can’t be late for my blind date. Babe, don’t scare me like yesterday. Take care. I do care about you but I have a life too.” Rico sent him a flying kiss and exited the room.    
  
Left alone, Levi yawned and looked around his room. He sighed and admitted that he did neglect his health these past few months, even Rico was bored of taking care of him. He decided that he really needed to see a doctor today.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The weather was still cool so he took a warm shower bath. After his mother’s death two years ago Levi only allowed a few people into his private life, and one of them Rico who was his former roommate. Friends who are like family meant a lot to him though he would never admit that to them vocally. There was also Mike, his other neighbour who successfully dragged his girl Nanaba into Levi’s life, and both quickly became a part of his new family.

This morning he was of course shocked at first when he found Rico in bed with him. Levi did feel lonely at times, but he would never resort to seek intimacy with Rico in order to feel less lonely. Rico is like a sister to him, he would never cross the border. And boy was he glad that he did not cross the border.   
  
Levi was lonely, but he mostly pushed it deep inside and busied himself with work. But work made him so busy that he neglected his well being. He should start changing things, really.   
  
As Levi exited the main apartment’s lobby and walked to the main road, he found no taxi at all. On sunny days Levi took the bus to his office in town but today it was drizzling earlier so it was extra cold. He could hear his late mother’s words about the wet season being the cause of fever and flu. He felt a little stuffy and pulled his jacket’s collar. He forgot to take along his scarf today. Levi sighed at himself again. 

After five minutes he realized that no taxis were passing by. He was about to launch a vehicle hiring app when someone called his name.

“Levi? Levi, Nanaba’s friend?”   
  
Levi looked at the physical manifestation of the voice and saw the person from the park, aka Nanaba’s best friend. They are now mutual friends since the day they started helping Nanaba with her charity thing.

“Hange?”

“Ah yes that’s me, how are you? We live almost... next door apparently.”

Levi nodded as he watched Hange pointed to a building few blocks away.

Hange was way taller than Levi and she was comfortably dressed in layers of warm clothings. She unknotted a scarf around her neck and handed it to him. She was wearing double layers it seemed.

“I think you needed this more than me, you were shiverin. Are you feeling ok?”

Levi reluctantly took the scarf from Hange. He hung it loosely around his neck. He did not want to offend her nor did he want to look eager, but it was cold. And the scarf did help fight the cold a bit.

“Thank you, I’ll return this next time I come to see Nanaba. I am heading to the clinic so I think I need to excuse myself,” he explained.    
  
He didn’t really need to but he thought since they would probably meet again and again, along with Nanaba in the near future, he might as well tell her.

“Oh, let me walk with you then. Wait, there’s a new clinic just before my apartment so probably you want to go there? Or do you have a panel clinic?”

“Oh,” Levi stared at her dumbly. He only knew about the clinics right smack in town near his office. He was not sick that often so he was only at the clinics for his annual vaccines or something.

“Come I’ll show you the way,” Hange urged and put her hands inside her pockets.

She turned her body towards the other way looking at him anticipating, and only started walking when he stepped next to her.   
  
“Okay.”

* * *

Hange did not expect to see Levi while on her way to work and he did not look good. She offered to walk with him to the new clinic which just opened near her apartment.    
  
Hange and Levi did not talk much. Hange thought unwell Levi might like the gesture.    
  
“So here’s the clinic, I’ll wait for you.” Hange said while stopping in front of a peach coloured shop unit. 

“Thank you,“ Levi said. He nodded and gave her a small smile as he went to the counter for registration.   
  
“Oh I’ll wait with you,” Hange said. She decided that work can wait and quickly notified her team that she will arrive later.

They sat next to each other as Levi checked his phone. Awkwardly, Hange looked at some old magazines on a table next to her. She wanted to ask him something but knew that it was better for them if she saved all the chit chat for another time.

In a few minutes Levi’s name was called since there was no one there. Hange thought that since the clinic was really new that could be the main reason for less patients.

Soon Levi got out and Hange thought that Levi would probably want to go home and rest.

“Do you want to have a drink, I need to eat so I can take my medicine.” Levi asked her.

Hange was a bit surprised but she jumped at the chance. “Sure. Let’s go to a nearby cafe,” she replied half excited.

They sat down and Levi ordered a sandwich with orange juice. Hange decided on a salad since they were eating big at work later.

Levi took his medicine after his meal. Hange tried very hard to not look at him, they were just mutual friends? Should she be fussy, but he was fussy with her at the park.    
  
“Thank you for approaching me this morning. The doctor was an old friend of mine apparently. If you did not bring me here i would probably not know. And i feel a lot better now.” 

“It’s a match made in neighbourhood heaven it seems,” Hange laughed.

Levi smiled a little and his colour looked healthier than before.

“Levi, can we be friends? I mean since we met up like this outside of Nanaba’s house? Can I call you and have a meal together or something? I am ok if you are a private person, I mean we only talk because of Nanaba.” 

Hange readied herself for rejection but Levi looked at her and said, “Yes, let me have your phone so I can save my phone number.”

“Ok, I’ll call you back and you can save my number later,” Hange beamed.

* * *

_ Nine months down the road. _

“Levi I am at the lobby of your apartment, let’s have some picnic at your house and stream some lovely beach scenery on your big ass high def TV,” Hange suggested over the phone. She knew he was now working exclusively from his office with the pandemic and everything.

“Sure, come on up. I just got off a meeting with a client and I need something to take my mind off work. The door will be unlocked,” came his voice.

“Aite!” Hange laughed and went up to his apartment.

By this time she was able to remember Levi’s daily schedule, when to properly bother him and when to not. He probably left the door unlocked since he’s planning to take a short soak in the bathtub.   
  
She got on his floor and was about to enter his apartment when his neighbour called her.

“Ah Miss Hange, come to visit Levi?” Moblit said and waved. He was about to go somewhere she guessed since he was properly dressed.

“Yes, it is a nice day to have some nice indoor picnic.” Hange replied as she lifted a basket of food with a chequered cloth on top.    
  
She had gone all the way to pack a basketful of picnic food with the ubiquitous picnic cloth. The pandemic made them sad but that was no reason to not go all out.

“I wish someone would have a picnic with me, but pandemic says otherwise, social distancing,” Moblit said as he put on his mask.

Hange gave him a thumbs up and entered Levi’s house.

“What food are you bringing?” Mobile asked again.

“Oh I have some sliced bread from the downtown bakery and homemade peach jam, I also have some tea, the brand Levi liked best.” Hange gestured at her basket.

“Levi is so lucky to have you, I am jealous,” Moblit pouted.

Hange laughed and she waved goofily at Moblit as she pushed down the doorknob to Levi’s home.    
  
“Levi!!!!”

As Hange opened the door Levi also opened from the inside.   
  
“Hi Moblit. Hange, you came just in time, let me take the basket first. You can sit down while I set the tv with the beach scene.”

“I thought you were going to soak as usual?”   
  
Hange turned around and saw Moblit still looking at them with a wide toothy smile. She nodded at him again and entered Levi’s apartment. She thought that was a bit odd.

Levi locked the door and tugged Hange by the arm and made her sit down.

“I have been thinking for a few weeks now and I think it’s about time I ask if you want to do this with me?”

Hange was confused but she sat down and grabbed a teacup shaped cushion and hugged it tight. “What are you on again man? Wait, are you having a high fever? Rico did say you can be delirious when…”

Hange stood and held out her palm to feel Levi’s forehead. Who knows that he was actually having a fever from overworking again.

Levi took her hand and held it in his. “Hange would you be the honour of being my girlfriend?”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the Levihan Secret Santa happening on Tumblr.
> 
> #levihansecretsanta #levihanss2020 #fanfiction


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